Dunzo is a daily task-management app that was founded in Bangalore in 2015, by Kabeer Biswas, Ankur Aggarwal, Dalvir Suri and Mukund Jha. It is a task-management app that allows resident users to interact with a combination of artificial intelligence systems and trained operators to perform chores such as pick up and deliver their belongings, buy medicines, order items for purchase from local stores, get documents printed, get clothes delivered to and from a dry cleaner, and so on… all over a smart chat interface. The firm has been lauded many times for adopting an innovative approach to solve problems.

Dunzo and its founders are in the news once again for raising $962,500 (nearly Rs 7 crores) in debt funding from the venture debt firm Alteria Capital. According to a recent ROC report, the firm raised this amount early in November. It issued secured, non-convertible debentures to facilitate the investment. The purpose of this new investment, has been cited as ‘general corporate purposes’ and service expansion as per the filings.

The Dunzo journey so far

Since its inception, Dunzo has rapidly evolved from a personal task assistant to a nearly ‘essential’ app category for residents in the cities where its services are active – namely, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Gurugram, Pune, Hyderabad, and Chennai. So far, the company has received venture capital investments from Google, Aspada Investment Advisors, Blume Ventures, and angel investments from Google India MD Rajan Anandan, and former JustDial executives Sandipan Chattopadhyay and Rajesh Dembia. The total investment in Dunzo so far is upward of $2 million.

With this money, the firm has been able to deploy services that at first look are extremely effective for solving daily problems on behalf of city-dwellers. At the back-end, Dunzo is slowly gaining market intelligence about consumer behavior at an unprecedented level. The last mile of the big data question that most eCommerce providers are yet to solve (What would consumers buy if they had the option to buy anything at all), is sitting in Dunzo’s lap – because as it utilizes the funds at its disposal to expand operations via instant local couriers, instant local orders and hyperlocal deliveries, their knowledge of what anyone wants to buy or get, ever – is only set to increase exponentially.

Dunzo’s founders and Alteria’s spokespeople were unavailable for comment on the subject.

Shomprakash Sinha Roy is a writer, journalist, musician and fitness enthusiast based out of Bangalore. He is a guest contributor on The Big Scope, in addition to serving as the Editor-in-chief of The Times Blog, and the lead vocalist for the Bangalore-based rock group 'The Pedestrians'.

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